How to Fix Your Wireless Printer Communications

At the end of your rope trying to get that wireless printer working again? We’ve got it covered. Wireless printing is a great thing when it works. On the other hand, WiFi issues can be one of the biggest aggravations with a printer. Getting them to connect and stay connected shouldn’t be so complicated. I know firsthand how convenient it is to plug a printer in a different part of the house or other side of the room to print. I’ve also had to fix a few wireless printers that no longer print from a computer. Well, here’s all the inside info for getting those two mixed-up kids back together again.

TL;DR Reinstall the printer using the setup program or CD that came with your printer.

Reboot

Just as a good story begins with “Once upon a time…”, all good technical advice begins with “Reboot…”. As a general rule, the wireless router should be rebooted first, then the printer, and finally the computer. In my experience, a laptop or computer rarely needs rebooted for wireless communication issues. At any rate, the router should be given a head start before other devices. Instead of rebooting the computer, I’ve had success by simply disabling the wireless adapter on the computer for a few seconds and then enabling it again.

Isolate Wireless communications

Regardless the standard or frequency of your wireless router it will have a limited amount of channels at its disposal. These wireless channels are also being used by cordless phones, some TV remotes, and tablets. Those communications can interfere with the printers wireless communications. Turn off as many wireless devices as possible.

If your printer has the ability to disable auto WiFi channel selection I would recommend disabling this setting only if you’re having connection issues. Years ago when auto negotiation of the LAN speed was new, some printers and switches had issues negotiating a connection. It’s possible if the auto channel selection is enabled on both devices, they might have issues connecting. Locking one device on a specific channel will force them to keep trying to communicate on that one channel.

WPS Button

Most printers and wireless routers have a WiFi Protected Setup button (WPS), sometimes called a quick setup button. Pressing this button on your router lets it know a new device will be attempting to connect to the wireless network soon. Pressing the button on your printer initiates the connection to the WiFi network. Security settings, such as any passwords, will be automatically configured between the two devices.

If the issue is related to too much chatter on the WiFi channels, pressing the WPS buttons can sometimes reestablish communiations. However, many times the printer will be connecting to the network and communicating on lower levels, such as a ping response. At the same time the printer may not be communicating on higher levels such as the printer port. In that case pressing the WPS buttons won’t work and the printer port will need reinstalled.

Reinstalling printer

Typically the network printer port is the issue and not the print driver. This isn’t a physical port on the printer but the software port monitor associated with the print driver. Unlike the wired TCP/IP port, wireless ports tend to be proprietary and can’t be configured. The setup program from the installation CD ‘recreates’ the wireless printer port. When you’ve tried everything and your printer still won’t connect, rerunning the setup program form the CD should resolve the connection issue.

If you can’t find the CD that came with your printer, don’t worry, the manufacturer will have the same software available for download from their website. Have your model number handy and check out their software and downloads section.

Be sure to remove the printer before running the setup program. A quick way to do this is hold down the Windows Key and press R. Type “control printers” and press enter.

Right click on the printer having the issue and select remove device. Now you’re ready to reinstall using the setup program.

There is also a free utility form Kyocera called KM Deleter. It will say it’s for Kyocera print drivers, however I’ve used it to remove other print drivers.

Once you get the setup software going make sure you follow the instructions as far as turning on the printer or pressing the WPS button. It may prompt you whether you want to keep the existing driver. Using the existing one is fine, it’s the port monitor setup we’re concerned with. Which the setup program takes care of on its own.

Final Note

If the issues persist there are a couple more things to try. There could just be a high volume of WiFi traffic around the printer. Moving the printer just a few feet can make a huge difference. Most manufacturers have software designed for advanced setup of networked printers. HP makes Wireless assistant software, Canon has IJ Network Device Setup Utility to name a few. Other utilities can give you an idea of how many WiFi communications are happening in your vicinity and help you choose the best setup for your printer.

So those are all the tricks I’ve learned over the years for getting the WiFi printer working again. Whether your printer has direct WiFi, where the printer supplies the wireless network, or not these tips and strategies hold true. They’re the best hope for not having to go back to a wired connection.

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